The Next Three Days
by lucyzigg
Summary: Set immediately after the road trip to Indianapolis, Ben and Leslie take their first few steps towards... something.


Disclaimer: I do not own the characters that appear in the following story. They are the property of the actors and actresses that portray them as well as NBC.

For reference purposes, this story includes all events up and through the "Road Trip" episode. Also, I am assuming that the Indianapolis meeting took place on a Thursday, as it works well with the story!

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><p>The Next Three Days<p>

(a Parks and Recreation fanfiction by Lucyzigg)

Chapter One

In all fairness, Leslie knew that the Indianapolis trip receipts weren't expected until Monday. But she always liked to impress her superiors by exceeding deadlines.

Also, it really wasn't her fault that Chris shared an office with a certain someone.

Someone who liked her.

Someone who knew that she liked him back.

Someone named Ben who favored plaid shirts, skinny ties, and girls with pretty blond hair.

She sighed to herself as she made her way down the hall to Chris's office. She had just finished telling the documentary crew that she wanted everything to go back to normal, that they both valued their jobs too much. And in a way, she bought that argument. The easiest way out of this situation would be to tell Ben that their conversation from dinner should stay unfinished. They were both professional enough to ignore their feelings, and eventually those feelings should go away.

With that unsettling thought, she turned the corner and happened upon a departing Ben. Caught off guard, she presented her receipts and her excuse only to find out that Chris had already left. Under Ben's intense stare, she offered the receipts to him nervously, tamping down the butterflies in her stomach.

Swiftly, Ben snatched the receipts from her hand. He then grabbed her head with his free hand and pulled her in for a kiss. Before she could even think to respond, he was pulling back, moving away to give her a desperate look.

She had a chance to stop this, but to hell with that! She wanted him to know what a REAL kiss with Leslie Knope felt like!

Closing her eyes, Leslie leaned up and met his descending lips for another kiss. He tasted slightly bitter, probably from the black coffee he insisted on drinking. He really needed to try it her way, with a healthy dollop of sugar and whipped cream. She'd make him an offer he couldn't refuse; present him with a Leslie Special just as he was waking up. And it wouldn't be her fault if she was only wearing his dress shirt. And if her finger happened to fall in the cup and scoop out some whipped cream to suck on, well then, that only proved her point at how delicious it was.

Of course, she'd have to get him in her bed first. Or even her house. And that means they should probably stop making out in Chris's office. And wait! What about the microphones? What about the cameras? Discretion suddenly became her foremost priority. She broke away from the kiss and looked up into his dark eyes. "Uh oh," she said softly.

"Uh oh?" he repeated. He made no attempt to release her from his grip.

"Don't talk!" she whispered furiously.

"Fine with me," he replied, leaning in for another kiss.

"Ben!" she exclaimed, slapping his chest with her folder. Startled, he released her from his grip. "Microphone," she mouthed.

"What?"

"Microphone!" she said, pointing at her lower back where her battery pack resided.

"Oh." He touched his own pack reflexively, then his eyes widened with realization. "Oh! I…" His cheeks reddened. "Well, I… you see what I was thinking was… the thing … the thing... well the fact is… there… well… you…" he trailed off, looking around the room.

She snapped her fingers in his face to get his attention. When his eyes met her, she gave him a huge wink. "Ben, while I appreciate your lesson on progressive European greetings, I don't feel like the Parks and Recreation Department would take too kindly to the change." Another wink. "Also, all that tongue and spit is frankly disgusting. You would need to mouthwash after ever meal to make it tolerable and only Jerry has that kind of dedication for dental hygiene." She grimaced at the mental image of her and Jerry French kissing. "Ugh, did you really expect me to kiss Jerry like that?"

Ben shook his head slightly, fiddling with his tie. "Yeah, um, I am not a big fan of spit either." He held his hands out at his sides, mouthing words at her that she had no hope of understanding.

As he gesticulated, Leslie sighed and reached inside her blazer for her Sweetums fountain pen. _Call me after the camera guys leave your place tonight," _she wrote neatly on her folder.

Stepping closer, Ben read the message and nodded. He then took the pen out of her hands. _You're a really good kisser_. Ben paused for a second, then underlined the word _really._

Grinning, Leslie snatched the pen back from him. She crossed out the word _good _and replaced it with _great._ Then she added an exclamation point. Then a smiley face. Then another. Capping the pen, she gave him another smile and mouthed a 'thank you'.

She caught the 'you're welcome' that he mouthed back. She also noticed the intensity of his stare and guessed that he wanted to kiss her again. While that would be awesome, she needed to get back to her office, finish her little league concession stand recommendations for Monday's update meeting, pack up for the day, tell Ann about Ben's amazing lips, figure out a plan of action with Ben, and somehow ditch the documentary crew for the entire weekend. However, she did enjoy his enthusiasm and he really did have a cute face… grabbing his tie, she pulled his face closer, but moved towards his ear. "Talk to you soon, Benjamin," she whispered, letting her lips brush against the lobe. She felt the shudder that ran through his body; emboldened, she released his tie and let her lips lightly trace his jaw line as his back straightened. She then took a step back and smiled at the darkened expression. "Back to work!" she chirped, turning on her heel and walking out of the office.

Carlos zoomed in on Ben rubbing his face before hitting the stop button on his camera. Quietly, he lowered into a crouched position, leaning against the file cabinet that was his cover not a few seconds ago. The producers had a bounty out on proof of the affair between Ben Wyatt and Leslie Knope, and he just got a nice bonus with the footage of that steamy kiss. He'd hopefully earn the rest after staking out Leslie's house for the remainder of the evening.

End Chapter One


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